Senior Backend Developer (Python and AI)
Summary
This role involves building AI-powered backend services and orchestration layers using Python, LangChain, and AWS. The developer will design RAG pipelines and agentic workflows while ensuring system reliability, observability, and security.
We are looking for a Senior Backend Developer with Python and AI expertise to build robust AI-powered API services and agentic workflows.
This role focuses on language model interaction with internal systems, vector databases, and external tools via orchestration frameworks, treating LLMs as components in a secure, scalable distributed system. You will own API contracts and service reliability end-to-end, ensuring AI edge cases fail gracefully, while integrating LLMs using rigorous systems engineering with built-in evaluation, observability, fallback handling, and cost awareness.
Responsibilities
- Design and build backend API services and LLM orchestration layers
- Develop reliable, reusable orchestration frameworks and logic for downstream developer consumption
- Implement and maintain complex RAG pipelines, including document ingestion, chunking, embedding, and retrieval optimization
- Build and connect agent tools using LangChain, LangGraph, and potentially MCP (Model Context Protocol)
- Integrate LLMs with rigorous systems engineering, embedding evaluation, observability, fallback handling, and cost awareness
- Ensure security, privacy, enterprise-grade observability, and test coverage for all backend workflows
- Own API contracts and service reliability end-to-end, ensuring AI edge cases fail gracefully
- Contribute to architecture decisions and engineering standards within the pod
- Collaborate with frontend engineers, data engineers, and infrastructure teams
Requirements
- Strong backend engineering experience, focused on microservices and distributed systems
- 3+ years of experience in Python for high-performance backend services and cloud-native APIs
- Expertise in AWS
- Familiarity with Docker and ECS/EKS
- Skills in building RESTful APIs and working with LangChain
- Knowledge of secure coding practices and strong auth/authz fundamentals
- English level of minimum B2 (Upper-Intermediate) for effective communication
Nice to have
- Hands-on experience with AI SDKs (OpenAI, Anthropic/Claude, AWS Bedrock, or equivalent) in production
- Practical experience with vector databases (Amazon Kendra, OpenSearch), embedding strategies, and retrieval systems
- Familiarity with LlamaIndex, LangGraph, or agent interoperability patterns (MCP)
- Background in AI evaluation tooling or real-time APM (LangSmith, Langfuse, Arize)
- Experience with React and TypeScript
- Understanding of identity/security domains (IAM, CIAM), plus deploying to EKS environments at scale
- Flexibility to use secondary languages such as Java, Node.js, or Go
Benefits
- International projects with top brands
- Work with global teams of highly skilled, diverse peers
- Healthcare benefits
- Employee financial programs
- Paid time off and sick leave
- Upskilling, reskilling and certification courses
- Unlimited access to the LinkedIn Learning library and 22,000+ courses
- Global career opportunities
- Volunteer and community involvement opportunities
- EPAM Employee Groups
- Award-winning culture recognized by Glassdoor, Newsweek and LinkedIn